The Music of Longing
by meowmeow814
Summary: The Moon shimmered in its watery reflection. Coral tinted lotuses drifted, stark white against the starless sky. Clear notes hovered in the air of the pavilion before dissipating into the night, like sea foam. Then her nimble fingers began to race across the koto. AU of "Tale of the Bamboo cutter"(set in ancient Japan). But this time it is Kagura-hime of the Moon. Hint of KamuKagu.
1. Chapter 1

The Moon shimmered in its watery reflection. Coral tinted lotuses drifted, stark white against the starless sky. Clear notes hovered in the air of the pavilion before dissipating into the night, like sea foam.

Then her nimble fingers began to race across the koto. Leaping and twisting, tumbling and sprinting, twirling and simply just _dancing_ , the music hopped lightly to its feet. Chaos and rapture, loneliness and contentedness, crashed over themselves again and again, in the insane whirlpool of music.

When her fingers could no longer pluck, they were trembling over the strings and ruby drops of blood were trickling from her calluses.

She absentmindedly began wiping them on her sleeve before she froze and dropped them. The twelve layered myriad shuffled back into place. She deeply sighed. Hydrangeas flowered beside the pavilion so she plucked a leaf, slowly collected her blood, folded it, and threw it into the pond. She turned back towards her instrument.

"Now, now, princess, one with a stature such as yourself mustn't throw away her precious blood like that."

Kagura whipped around.

A man with a fiery red braid held the leaf between two fingers. He had a pleasant smile but his eyes were leering and mocking. Kagura narrowed her eyes.

"Isn't that what your human… oh, what is it called, ah yes, _teachers_ say? Teach? The heir of the very Moon itself? Ridiculous. But I digress. Your Highness, I am but the messenger of the Moon, Kamui, and I have come to retrieve you so we can return."

He held out a hand towards her. She stared at his clawlike nails and the wide palm outreached towards her. When she didn't take his hand, irritance sparked in his eyes although his smile remained perfect.

"Your Highness? Did you not call for the Moon tonight? Did you not long to return to your true hometown, the perfection and eternal happiness of the Moon rather than this… dirt hovel? Please don't be so difficult princess." His smile became thinner, and his eyes gazed upon her with the irritancy of a busy adult with an uncooperative child. Someone who has no time to waste on the little ones.

Kagura decided that she did not like him.

"Excuse me your Grace," and she casually threw a finger pick at his eye. His smile widened as he caught it with two fingers. He placed it and the leaf on the edge of the pavilion.

"Hmm, would you please enlighten me of your actions, your Highness?"

"You Grace, do you not agree that kinsfolk of the Moon must be civilized wherever they are?" He nodded, the smile dripping toxic. "Then you do agree that even here, upon this planet, kinsfolk of the Moon must be civilized however much of a 'dirt hovel' it is, yes?"

"But of course your Highness. However, please correct if I am wrong, but I do not remember throwing sharp things as being civilized."

She laughed dryily. "I am only doing the mere breathing of civilization visibly. But this is a response to you, your Grace. The finger pick is only a reflection of your actions."

He slowly grinned at her sardonically, almost lazily. "I see. I apologize for my behavior then, your Highness." He looked at her pointedly for an apology back.

"Your apology is rejected but please, continue."

"Therefore, I propose that I then try to convince you with words. If you give a hint of that longing again, which is your blood itself, then we will return immediately to the Moon." Looking like a pleased cat, he folded his arms smugly.

"... And how would you know that I am feeling that so-called longing."

He gave a nasty, nasty laugh that sent unpleasant shivers down her spine.

"If you are truly one of the kinsfolk of the Moon, no, the heir of the Moon, then you must be able to flawlessly play the koto while maintaining a conversation, at the very least. I have played the guzheng for centuries, so I can sense the changes of the heart through music and instantly call the carriage home."

She took a sharp intake of air. The stinging in her fingers, the weariness of her wrists, suddenly seemed more painful. She sneaked a glance at her hands and grimly saw the lacerations.

"Of course, if your fingers are too tired, then we only have to go back and treat them with magic," Kamui smoothly finished, a slyness entering his smile.

"No! I, I can perform." She quickly hid her hands within the swishing sleeves and recomposed herself. "But your Grace, isn't this rather unfair? While I must play and talk simultaneously in courtly manners, your Grace would only have to talk."

"I am only a servant and of course my hearing and talking is far from your own talent, your Highness. This would give me a fair handicap." The lies flowed like oil.

She gritted her teeth. There was no way for her to stay on Earth other than to win. If she forfeited, then she knew that this Kamui would spread the rumor like a wildfire among the nobles, both on the Moon and here. One look at his smile was enough for her to overcome any doubts; she must win at all cost.

"... Then I accept," she replied coolly, and gracefully settled back before the koto. Kamui sat crosslegged in front of her. She plucked a few strings, wincing as the strings cut back into the calluses.

"Well then, shall we begin," he said, more of a statement than a question, his eyes flashing sadistically. Her eyes hardened but she smiled sweetly.

"Of course."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello! I'm sorry that the ending hasn't been uploaded since forever but here is the end to the story. Thank you for reading!

~meowmeow814

* * *

Crickets sang quietly in the night, their little throats vibrating with each cry towards their love. The crescent moon coldly became the silent judge, its pale light almost blinding being the false sun it is.

The princess began to play, the notes starting to trickle around her before dissipating. Her hands elegantly glided over the strings, weaving together the familiar, melancholic melody of _Two Lovers among Lotuses_.

The messenger shivered but remembered the task at hand.

"Well your Highness, it seems like you indeed have a talent that is a blessing of the gods themselves. How can you stay here and let that go to waste, here where no mere mortal can appreciate such ethereal beauty?"

"You flatter… me, your Grace." She managed to keep her music going, although Kamui could hear the dullness of stringent cautiousness, a smudge on the shining vivacity. He clicked his tongue, not loud enough to break the music, but loud enough for her to hear his disapproval. She winced.

He patiently waited for her to continue.

"O-oh, well," she cleared her throat awkwardly, flustered at realizing her rather incomplete phrase. "I do not play for, for rather, audiences but rather myself. I play for myself."

Her nervousness finally slipped in the strings and she missed a lonesome note. Her face blossomed pinker, and her tempo inched forward just the slightest bit. The lines of music were starting to become muddled, and panic began dripping into her mind.

"Is that so, princess… " He could barely disguise his smug grin. "Such a noble cause! It is no strangeness then, that you are hailed the greatest koto player of Japan and how the name, Kagura-hime, resonates with awe even in the court of the Moon. Why, I do remember your Highness's dear mother brimming with pride for her daughter's music."

The music tripped and the notes clashed for the briefest moment before stumbling on, not quite falling but more like limping. A heartache, a grief, a thorn of sorrow.

"Ah yes, how wonderful she was, back in those silver days of joy!" he continued. "So much love in her eyes, benevolence which she showed even to the unworthy me. She gave me a lilac once, ones from around the palace she planted herself. And to this day, I have never smelled a sweeter scent," he said solemnly. He peered over at Kagura. Her fingers were now plucking flawlessly but her mind was elsewhere, in a place eternally bathed with moonlight, where the lilacs bloomed everyday, and her mother's memories were stamped on everything, every single step, of the castle. Where everything was her memento of living as the bitter, cold, real body lay in the ground. Notes, rhythm, dynamics, tempo meticulously perfect. The worst kind of music.

"You cannot escape." She started with surprise and plucked a string too hard. It snapped, the twang crashing through the music like a rock thrown in a river. She looked down in horror before gulping and feebly plucking again. "Ignore the memories and you tarnish her memory. Ignore the emotions and you forget her face. Ignore yourself and you will never be the same."

"How could you know?" Her voice shook, with half-raw grief and half-burning anger, the polished manners shattering apart. "You were never there when she died. You were never present through her slow decay of life! You never, ever, went through all the pain that I did so don't you _dare_ speak!" she cried. The music meshed itself into the warped mess her heart was.

"Oh but I do."

The hushed words was the sound of ice cracking when it melted in water. The clear cry of the first songbird. One note plucked in the dead of night. The princess, no, the pitiful girl looked up at the messenger with fear and pain swimming in her eyes. The hands could no longer strum. They lay defeated on the instrument. The two lovers have only died and never went on to their happy ending among the lotus.

"Who... are you?"

He held his breath, barely managing to swallow.

"The one… who needs you back," a rough whisper replied. "Your… last relative."

Realization slowly dawned upon her and it took no music for the messenger to see the heart wrenching longing for family. For home. For the Moon.


End file.
